Ireland – Faroe Islands Preview: Boys in Green look to keep qualification hopes alive

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IRELAND

Forde Coleman, O'Shea, St Ledger, Wilson Cox, Whelan, Hoolahan, McGeady Walters, Keane

FAROE ISLANDSNielsen Naes, Davidsen, Baldvinsson, Justinussen Danielsen, Olsen Vatnsdal, Holst, S Samuelsen Edmundsson

Ireland are without the services of West Bromwich Albion striker Shane Long and Wigan Athletic's James McCarthy, with both players serving a one-game suspension. Veteran defender Richard Dunne is not risked by Trapattoni, despite featuring in Sunday's 4-0 friendly win over Georgia.

Captain Robbie Keane looks set to become Ireland's most capped player, as he leads the side out on his 126th international appearance, moving ahead of goalkeeper Shay Given,

Lars Olsen's Faroe Islands have lost all four of their World Cup qualifiers to date, including a 4-1 defeat to Trapattoni's side in October. Arnbjorn Hansen scored the hosts' consolation goal in Torshavn, but the 27-year-old striker will not feature due to injury.

The Islanders have Frodi Benjaminsen and Hallur Hansson suspended, while Hjalgrim Elttor withdrew from Olsen's squad to sit exams. With the Faroe Islands short of midfield cover, Heini Vatnsdal could be in line to win his first cap after impressing for the country's under-21 side, helping them to a 1-1 draw with rivals Denmark.

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Ireland - Faroe Islands Preview: Boys in Green look to keep qualification hopes alive

Ireland 3-0 Faroe Islands: Keane the hat trick hero on record-breaking night

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Robbie Keane marked his record-breaking 126th international appearance with a hat trick as Republic of Ireland eased past Faroe Islands 3-0 in their World Cup Qualifier at the Aviva Stadium.

The 32-year-old took just four minutes to breach the visitors defense before taking his international tally to 59 goals with a second-half brace and in the process earning the Boys in Green three crucial points as the race for second in Group C intensifies.

Wes Hoolahan was handed his first competitive start by Giovanni Trapattoni in the absence of the suspended James McCarthy, and it didnt take long for the Norwich playmaker to justify his inclusion.

A neat one-two with Jonathan Walters on the edge of the area created a pocket of space for the 33-year-old to feed Aiden McGeady on the left and his low cross was swept home by Keane.

Moments later, the LA Galaxy front man very nearly turned provider but defender Jonhard Frederiksberg did brilliantly to get across and block Jonathan Walters goal bound effort after Keanes clever ball down the side of the visitors defense.

The early goal was exactly what Trapattoni and the home fans had wished for but instead of kicking on and creating daylight between themselves and their inferior opponents, the hosts seemed to rest on their laurels and struggled to find the cutting edge in the final third.

Both Walters and Keane were dropping off and finding acres of space and a move straight from the training ground almost doubled the home sides advantage. Simon Coxs quick thinking from a free kick caught the Faroes defense unaware but Keane couldnt poke past the onrushing Gunnar Nielsen.

The Faroe Islands goalkeeper then pulled off an equally impressive save from the Irish captains fierce strike after a poor defensive clearance. The Boys in Green stepped up the intensity as the halftime whistle approached as McGeady continued to cause Frederiksberg problems every time he got forward.

In a rare moment of reprieve from defensive duties, Lars Olsens side had appeals for a penalty waved away moments into the second period. Christian Holst went down under the clumsy challenge of Sean St Ledger but the Finnish official was quick to silence the calls for a spot kick.

It wasnt long until Irelands domination paid off and once again it was incisive play from Hoolahan which led to the goal. For the first time in the match Seamus Coleman got away from his marker and needed no second invitation to fire the ball across the box where Keane was there to slot home.

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Ireland 3-0 Faroe Islands: Keane the hat trick hero on record-breaking night

Best-Kept Secret Islands of Indonesia

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Ken Kochey

I went in search of dragons and found sapphire-blue starfish instead. It wasn't just a few, mind you, but a constellation nesting in a translucent bay within Indonesia's Komodo National Park. There's an obvious metaphor or two in thatthe futility of expectations, the power of beauty over the beastbut I'm easily distracted, and at the time, while snorkeling just a few strokes off tiny Kanawa island, I'd become too preoccupied by the parade of neon fish gliding past my mask to give those frightful dragons (overfed lizards, really) any thought at all. In between swims, I'd sit under the bamboo roof of Kanawa's only restaurant, facing an empty beach of sparkling golden sands, play chess on a battered wooden board with one of the local guides, and seriously consider not writing about this island. Why not keep it to myself a little while longer.

By that point in the trip, having already hop-scotched around six Indonesian islands, I was feeling quite pleased with myself. Years earlier, I had fallen hard for Bali but later discovered I wasn't the only woman in its life. I remember reading, with a sinking heart, that Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir Eat, Pray, Lovedoubled the number of visitors to the island, and that was before Julia Roberts arrived on the scene. Granted, even Hollywood couldn't spoil a place as enchanting as Bali, but still, I was ready to move on. And I knew just the person to help. As luck would have it, my brother's wife, Sumena, is both Indonesian (born in Sumatra) and an ardent traveler. "You do know," she pointed out, in her eminently sensible way, "that Indonesia has thousands of other islandsthousandsthat hardly anyone visits. Or at least hardly any Americans." It took some timeyears, in factbefore Sumena finally agreed to travel with me to the other Indonesia.

Given that the Indonesian archipelago consists of more than four hundred volcanoes, many of them still twitchy, its messy topography is easily explained. The exact number of islands ebbs and flows with each tectonic rumbling, but these days the country's tourism office counts 17,508, all shapes and sizes, spattered around the equator. Only 6,000 are inhabited. From east to west, the island chain stretches across an area as wide as the continental United States.

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Indonesia does not lack variety. Don't take my word for it: The nineteenth-century British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, Darwin's more modest peer, rhapsodized about its astonishing biodiversity in his seminal work The Malay Archipelago. Wallace wrote that the wildlife on Bali differs as much from that of the neighboring island of Lombok, a mere fifteen miles away, as America's animals differ from Europe's. The contrast between the critters on Java (the most populous island) or Borneo (the wildest) and Sulawesi (the most mountainous) is still more striking, he noted. Orangutans, man's smartest relative, live on Sumatra (the largest island) and Borneoand nowhere else in the world. Likewise, Komodo dragons are found only on a few small islands in the southeast. On Sulawesi alone are a bunch of endemic animals so quirky that they warrant their own Pixar film, starring, say, the feisty dwarf buffalo, the timid tailless monkey, and the nightlife-loving civet. But Indonesia's diversity is hardly limited to wildlife.

Here, a horse-cart driver at Hotel Tugu Lombok, on Balis less-touristedand slower-pacedneighbor. Photographer: Ken Kochey

Each of the country's roughly three hundred ethnic groups has its own language, customs, and food. Though Islam is the dominant religion (Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population), the Balinese are mostly Hindu. Other islands have a majority Christian population, courtesy of the Portuguese spice traders and the Dutch missionaries, while Buddhism is widely practiced among the seven-million-strong Chinese community (which includes my sister-in-law's family). Animism, with its high-maintenance spirit gods, is alive and well in the rural areas, though some of its more notorious practicesheadhunting, cannibalismhave gone out of fashion. Violent ethnic conflicts flare up every so often, and the country grapples with its own homegrown terrorist groups, which carried out devastating bombings in Bali in 2002 and 2005 and in Jakarta in 2003 and 2009. But Indonesia's complex geography and long history as a cultural crossroads, not to mention the government's vigorous counter-terrorism efforts, have mostly helped to keep the peace.

Over dinner in northern Sumatra one night, my new friend Imam isn't interested in discussing his country's cultural diversity, nor my country's. "Have you seen Toy Story 2? What about A Bug's Life?" He interrogates me tenaciously, as only a ten-year-old could. We are in his family's modest, cheerfully decorated home in the town of Bukit Lawang, the gateway to Gunung Leuser (Mount Leuser) National Park, where I have spent the morning stalking orangutans. Imam's father, Masno, is the chef at the Bukit Lawang Ecolodge, a colony of tidy bungalows and carefully tended gardens just outside the park. He and his wife also run their own place, Masno Caf and Cake, out of their home. The restaurant was closed that night, but Masno has invited me to join his family for dinner, preceded by a lesson in Indonesian home cooking. I sit with him, his bubbly wife, Misnawati, and Imam on a mat in their living room, weighing peanuts and palm sugar on a small scale and measuring the rest of the ingredients for the gado-gado: star anise, tamarind, chili, ginger, garlicall collected from the backyard garden. Aceh province, where police raided a jihadist training camp last year and where some villages have recently adopted sharia law, is just a mountain range away. But here in this Muslim home, where Misnawati lowers her voice and wrinkles her nose when she frets about Sumatran-born terrorists, where Imam's DVD collection rivals my niece's and nephew's in Los Angeles, and where Masno vacuum-seals the gado-gado for me to take home to New York, it might as well be in a different galaxy.

I am already reaping the rewards of being one of the few foreigners in a place that is genuinely happy to see them andrather poignantly, I thinkeager to welcome many more. Admittedly, Gunung Leuser is one of the most popular tourist attractions on Sumatra, and giant tour buses do occasionally barrel down the main roads. But considering that Sumatra (twice the size of Great Britain) welcomes about 1.6 million foreign visitors a year while Bali, about the size of Delaware, gets more than two million, you can see how Bukit Lawang might feel somewhat lonely. Sumena has opted to meet me on the next leg of the trip, so I travel on my own to Bukit Lawangbut never stay that way for long. I arrive on a Sunday afternoon, just as the local families are settling into picnics on the rocky banks of the Bohorok River, which fronts my hotel. Several of the chattering, head-scarved women invite me to join them.

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Best-Kept Secret Islands of Indonesia

Alamo Rent A Car Locations Open in Tortola, British Virgin Islands

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ST. LOUIS, MO and ROAD TOWN, BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS--(Marketwired - Jun 7, 2013) - For the first time, Alamo Rent A Car brand locations will begin serving customers in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Car rentals from Alamo will now be available at the Terrence B. Lettsome International Airport in Tortola, and at Maria's By The Sea Hotel in Road Town, Tortola. The hotel is located along the shore of Road Harbour, within walking distance of most major shops and offices.

To operate the new locations, British Virgin Islands-based Tropical Rentals Limited has been appointed as a franchisee for the Alamo Rent A Car brand.

"We are pleased to have the opportunity to join with Tropical Rentals Limited to serve customers of our Alamo brand in the British Virgin Islands," said Armando Lemus, regional field manager of global franchising for Enterprise Holdings, which owns and operates the Alamo brand in North America. "We feel Alamo's low rates and no-hassle service will be welcomed by the numerous travelers to the beautiful island paradise of Tortola."

Allan Parker, general manager for Tropical Rentals Limited, said, "Leisure travelers on the island will indeed respond positively to Alamo Rent A Car because of its great reputation for customer service and value."

Along with its affiliate Enterprise Fleet Management, Enterprise Holdings -- which includes extensive car rental and car-sharing services, commercial truck rental, corporate fleet management, and retail car sales -- accounted for $15.4 billion in revenue and operated 1.3 million vehicles throughout the world in fiscal 2012. Today, Enterprise Holdings has a presence in more than 40 countries worldwide, including 8,200 corporate-owned and franchise locations. Through its regional subsidiaries, Enterprise Holdings operates an Alamo franchise network throughout the Americas. In 2012, the company also made a strategic investment in China-based eHi Auto Services.

For more information, visit http://www.alamo.com.

About Alamo Rent A Car

Founded in 1974, Alamo Rent A Car -- the largest car rental provider to international travelers visiting North America -- is a value-oriented, internationally recognized brand serving the rental needs of airport leisure travelers. Alamo offers low rental rates and a hassle-free customer experience at the most popular travel destinations throughout the world. Alamo is a recognized technology innovator, with the industry's first and only online check-in system since 2005, as well as more than 171 self-service kiosks at 63 U.S. locations, which earned it the "Extra Mile Award" from Budget Travel magazine in 2007. Alamo also serves as the official rent a car of Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort.For more information about Alamo, visit http://www.alamo.com.

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Alamo Rent A Car Locations Open in Tortola, British Virgin Islands

Consulate Health Care Receives Bronze National Quality Award

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MAITLAND, Fla., June 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Consulate Health Care has been recognized as a 2013 recipient of the Bronze Commitment to Quality award for its dedication to improving the lives of residents through improved care. The award is one of three distinctions possible through the National Quality Award program, presented by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL). The program honors health care centers across the nation that have demonstrated their commitment to improving care for seniors and individuals with disabilities.

Consulate Health Care currently serves as the industry's largest post-acute provider in the State of Florida, so it is no surprise that of the 42 awards issued nationally in their name, an impressive 37 bronze awards were presented to locations in Florida. Subsequently, Consulate was the only organization recognized this year in the State of Louisiana.

"In an age of changing health care, Consulate Health Care has remained committed to prioritizing quality care above all else," said Mark Parkinson, President and CEO of AHCA/NCAL. "This facility is an example of the great things that can be accomplished when we commit to person-centered care."

Implemented by AHCA/NCAL in 1996, the National Quality Award Program is centered on the core values and criteria of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. The program assists providers of long term and post-acute care services in achieving their performance excellence goals.

The program has three levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Centers begin the quality improvement process at the Bronze level, where they develop an organizational profile with essential performance elements such as vision and mission statements and an assessment of customers' expectations. Bronze applicants must demonstrate their ability to implement a performance improvement system. A team of trained Examiners reviews each Bronze application to determine if the center has met the criteria. As a recipient of the Bronze - Commitment to Quality award, Consulate Health Care's centers may now begin developing approaches to achieve performance levels that meet the criteria required for the Silver - Achievement in Quality award.

"This award is not simply a plaque that facilities hang on the wall and forget," said Ed McMahon, Chair, AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Board of Overseers. "Facilities such as those of Consulate Health Care receive this award because they're committed to the constant journey of improving quality care."

The awards are sponsored by AHCA/NCAL's Associate Business Member, My InnerView (by National Research Corporation). My InnerView represents the true voice of nursing home and assisted living residents, families, and employees with the most insightful quality measurement solutions and satisfaction surveys in the healthcare continuum. Consulate Health Care had several locations among the 361 centers receiving the Bronze level award. The award will be presented to 42 Consulate Health Care centers during AHCA/NCAL's 64th Annual Convention and Exposition, October 6-9, 2013, in Phoenix, AZ.

About Consulate Health Care

Consulate Health Care is one of the nation's leading providers of Senior health care services, specializing in comprehensive skilled nursing and post-acute care, short-term rehabilitation, and Alzheimer's and dementia care. Operating more than 200 skilled nursing, assisted living, and independent living centers in 21 states, Consulate provides the personal, customized care of an independent organization, with the scope, resources, and expertise of a national care organization.

Please visit us at http://www.consulatehealthcare.com to learn more about our services.

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Consulate Health Care Receives Bronze National Quality Award

Health care thorny issue in immigration debate – NBC40.net

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By ERICA WERNER Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Health care coverage for newly legalized immigrants is emerging as a thorny issue in Congress' drive to remake the nation's immigration system, posing hard-to-solve problems for Senate negotiators and threatening a bill-writing effort in the House.

The question is how much access to taxpayer-subsidized care should be granted to immigrants who were here illegally and are embarking on a path to citizenship. Answering it has pulled the noxious politics around President Barack Obama's signature health care law into the immigration debate.

That's threatening fragile alliances between Republicans and Democrats, already causing one key House member, GOP Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho, to ditch a bipartisan group in the House that has been struggling to finalize a comprehensive immigration bill.

"What may be the story at the end of this session is that Obamacare killed immigration reform," Labrador said before a last-gasp effort failed this week to resolve the health care dispute in a way he could accept. Now the seven other members of the House group are moving forward without Labrador, who said their proposal doesn't go far enough to ensure that immigrants must pay for all their own health care costs without leaving taxpayers on the hook for any of it.

Health care and immigrants was a hot-button issue even before Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina yelled "You lie!" at Obama four years ago as the president told Congress that immigrants in the country illegally wouldn't be covered under his health plan. For Republicans, allowing immigrants here illegally to get coverage under Obamacare remains a nonstarter, even once they've taken the first steps toward legalizing their status.

"We cannot be providing Obamacare subsidies to people who have been violating our immigration laws," said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., an author of a bipartisan immigration bill that the full Senate began debating Friday.

The Senate bill bars immigrants in a new provisional legal status, the first step toward a green card and citizenship, from getting taxpayer-subsidized care. That includes Medicaid and tax subsidies to buy coverage in the new state purchasing exchanges being set up by Obamacare. The immigrants would be in provisional status for 10 years, and only once they get a permanent resident green card would they be able to access Obamacare subsidies.

The approach is opposed by immigrant advocates who pushed for provisional legal immigrants to be allowed government-subsidized care, arguing that it makes sense for public health and the economy. But the idea was opposed by Republicans, and even Democratic authors of the Senate bill didn't fight too hard for it, advocates said, partly because it would have greatly increased the cost of the legislation. By just how much is unclear. But the Obamacare tax subsidies will cost on average about $5,300 annually for each person who gets them starting next year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

"We definitely were pushing from the start, and basically we tried to remind the Democrats that this was sort of an unfulfilled promise from the Affordable Care Act, when undocumented immigrants were excluded," said Sonal Ambegaokar, health policy attorney at the National Immigration Law Center. She said some Democrats were open to the arguments but that it quickly became clear they wouldn't prevail, "for political reasons, and not economic reasons."

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Health care provision could derail MMA in Connecticut

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Despite legislative action to lift Connecticut's ban on mixed martial arts, plans to bring the sport to venues across the state are hanging in limbo because of a provision making promoters liable for health care costs associated with fighters' injuries.

The state's General Assembly passed the legislation Wednesday on the last day of the session, leaving MMA advocates unsure about their ability to expand their operations in the state.

"We wouldn't promote a show within a jurisdiction that would require that," said Joe Cuff, a promoter at Reality Fighting, which currently organizes MMA events at Mohegan Sun. "You're taking on a ton of liability."

MMA is a form of fighting that features boxing, wrestling, taekwondo, judo and other disciplines. Events around the world typically attract thousands of fans and are broadcast widely on cable television.

Matches are currently permitted at Connecticut's Indian-run casinos, but they have been illegal in the rest of the state since a 2008 ruling by Richard Blumenthal, attorney general at the time.

The health care provision was backed by Senate President Donald Williams Jr., a Democrat who voted against the main bill Wednesday after preventing the Senate from even considering it in previous years.

"Injuries that are incurred by these athletes ought to be the responsibility of the promoters who make tremendous amounts of money off of these athletes," Williams said.

"Let's remember: This is a sport where the ultimate goal is not about scoring touchdowns or shooting baskets or shooting goals," he said. "It's about waling away on another person, hitting them and kicking them repeatedly. That is what the sport is about."

Cuff said it is standard procedure for doctors to provide medical inspections at fight events and for promoters to supply insurance to help defer possible health care costs, as they do in boxing. But Williams said such policies often cover only the night of the fight and have a low cap, leaving fighters personally liable for potentially large, long-term medical bills.

"I don't know as to what level they want covered, but that would be pretty hardcore," Cuff said. "That's kind of, yikes."

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Health care provision could derail MMA in Connecticut

Futurist Jim Carroll to Speak on What World Class Innovators Do

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SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Jim Carroll, author and futurist, will be a featured speaker at Atlantic Design & Manufacturing at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia this month, speaking on What Do World Class Innovators Do That Others Don't Do? Event producer UBM Canon is striving to provide more opportunities for education and inspiration from thought leaders on the expo hall floor at its trade events. The company brings in Carroll and a host of other speakers and panels with topics relevant and important to the rapidly changing design and manufacturing industry. A panel on women in medtech and engineering to discuss the current controversies surrounding women in positions of responsibility in industry, a talk on Aligned Partnerships in design and development by Scott Jost, and a showcase of winners of the Medical Design Excellence Awards are just some of the other special free presentations at the event aimed at providing educational and networking opportunities for all who attend.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130607/LA28452)

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101214/LA16070LOGO)

Co-located with Atlantic Design & Manufacturing, June 18-20, 2013, is MD&M (Medical Design & Manufacturing) East, now celebrating its 30th year. Other shows expanding the reach of this large manufacturing event are EastPack, ATX (Automation Technology Expo) East, PLASTEC East, and Pharmapack, the latter on June 18-19 only.

About UBM Canon UBM Canon is the leading producer of face-to-face trade events and media brands that support the flow of information, commerce, and innovation in the world's $3 trillion advanced, technology-based manufacturing sector, including the pharmaceutical, medical device, biotechnology, packaging, design engineering, process technology, automated assembly, electronics, quality control, plastics processing, aerospace, and sustainability segments.

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Futurist Jim Carroll to Speak on What World Class Innovators Do